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New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIX, Issue 18, 2 November 1907, Page 25

Some interest has been aroused in the island of Madeira as the result of experiments conducted by an Italian chemist, Professor Pagisci, who declares that the juice of the fig under proper treat ment can be converted into a wine of excellent taste. The professor states that its flavour is agreeable, that it is very rich in phosphate matter and almost wholly destitute of tannic acid, qualities that render it especially nourishing to invalids and children. The pulp is said also to create a new food for milrti cows and fowls. The fresh fig contains only about twentyfive per cent of sugar, but after it has been dried and prepared for the making of wino it yields 80 per cent sugar.